There are photos in my album. I'm sorry I can't post them inline here yet.

So, I am going through my new-to-me Fuso, circa 1989 (Columbus SLX, 600 tri-color.) It's a low mileage example, from all external indications, and it has clearly slept indoors for most (or all) of its life. The headset needed attention, though. It's Campy (Record, I believe.) It felt rough, but not indexed, so I figured I just needed to clean and re-pack it. I opened it up and scraped the 33-year-old grease out to discover that the bottom cup and the bottom cone are both scored (I guess you'd call it scored) by the balls, lined up to how they sit in the cage. The top cup and cone are fine. At first I was confused, since it wasn't really indexed to center and the bike has low miles. Then I realized that the first thing I did was to pull off the aero triathlon bars. The previous owner probably put a lot of weight on the front end (specifically, the bottom end of the headset) during those miles.

So, what do I do? I have grease and loose balls for the re-pack, but is that a mistake? I don't plan to ride the bike (it's too small for me.) I will sell it one day (once I find a Fuso in my size, I suppose) and I doubt the next owner will ride it much, either, being such a nice, vintage specimen. I don't have the tools to deal with extracting and replacing the cup and the cone and I'd rather not spend much more money on parts than I have already (esp. after correcting for the custom wheels.) I guess I'm looking for validation that this is going to be OK before I just put it back together. The loose balls shouldn't line up to those divots. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Does anyone have experience with this condition? If I cheap out, I'm somewhat increasing the likelihood that someone else will be forced to replace that headset down the road. Aside from parts availability (and a little bit of labor), am I risking anything other than having to live with the nagging knowledge that the headset is a little banged up inside?

Thanks in advance for either a "pack it and stack it" or a "don't you dare" vote, with or without elaboration.

Gregor

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your member page states you have not as yet created any albums


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does the crown race on the fork look something like this?




This is also a Campy Record headset, and they are somewhat infamous for bearing races that aren't really hardened enough, and prone to indentations from the bearings. Switching to loose bearings, and therefore more bearings that when using caged bearings, can improve the situation.

Steve in Peoria

Loose bearings one size smaller can actually improve things on the bottom but one way or the other, the next buyer should be aware that they will likely need to replace the headset at some point.

My first Masi GC, bought new in 1972 with full Campy Record components, developed that brinelling surprisingly quickly with the supplied caged bearings - I’d guess within about 1500 miles (but we didn’t have odometers and GPS back then). For what was the “best of the best”, I was quite disappointed. The shop where I purchased it switched to loose balls to eliminate the indexing for the remainder of the time I owned that bike, maybe another 3000-4000 miles. Headsets have improved substantially since then.

I’d strongly suggest switching to something with sealed bearings, doesn’t have to be expensive. My Shimano Ultegra version on the Miyata 912 is working fine after well over twice that mileage. And shop labor to install it shouldn’t be much.

A Fuso, any Fuso, is worth it!

I would try loose bearings first- you get more bearings in and less chance of indexing.
another task would be to rotate the cup and cone 60 -90 degrees either direction from center.
that can help too short of replacing the headset

I just added another folder, with these photos. I hope that worked.

Thanks for all of the replies so far. Maybe these photos will work:

Yikes!

That is hammered, it needs to be replaced now.

One of the worst I've ever seen.

Hokey Smokes, Bullwinkle! That must be ... interesting to ride!

If smooth bearings is not your thing, repack with grease and ride on. It's called 'underbiking', lol

Ok, that might be a bit far gone. There are plenty of reasonably priced headsets that perhaps a co-op near you could lend you the tools to install.

Oomph! Someone broke out the breaker bar when they "adjusted" it

It's not brinelling, it's false-brinelling. Brinelling is caused by the bearings pounding the race enough to cause actual dents. False brinelling is caused by rocking of the two races respective to each other, against the bearings. Exacerbated over time by a loosely-adjusted headset, brake chatter, and bumpy roads, it is also self-reinforcing: the bearings preferentially find those notches and they have more space there and things are sloppy and they carve the existing notches bigger.

Wow. All kinds of good info! Thanks, folks. The update here is that I put it back together with loose balls and it's pretty terrible. I was hoping that the odd number of (more) balls would help. It didn't help much. Oy.

Oh, that was one of the Campy ISH headsets that were made for a short time. Indexed Shifting Headset! Instead of smoothly steering with the front end, you choose a direction and shift to that direction with the ISH headset! Seriously, maybe it was loose and this guy just rode it loose and sat on the tri bars, going straight down the road. I don't remember ever seeing one that bad.

...there are still relatively decent 1 inch Tange headsets available for purchase on the internet. Ben's sells them.
You can bang out the old head tube races with a drift, by catching the edges. But you need a press of some sort to install them.

And the crown race may or may not be easy to remove, and replace with the Tange one.

I think 1" threaded headsets might be becoming endangered, though. So I'm not sure what to tell you in terms of waiting. It's a quick and easy job with the proper tools, I do it every time I paint a frame. But it doesn't sound like you have the proper tools.

Send that one back to the Island of Brinell.

Amazon.com : Campagnolo Record Headset, 1" Threaded (26.4mm) : Bike Headsets And Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

Yeah, that's some pretty significant fretting damage. You might be able to get a little more service out of it by using loose balls rather than a retainer, and/or removing the crown race or lower pressed cup and rotating a little so the divots no longer line up.

That's what I was thinking too... a nice Tange Levin that looks very much like the Campy.
I suspect that only the lower bearing cup and cone need to be replaced, and the Campy upper bits can be used. Might be worth taking it to the LBS for this??
Of course, considering how abused the lower races were, I wouldn't be surprised to find that the upper bearings might be trashed too.

Steve in Peoria

Unlike others here I've found that Record headsets were quite good for the day and suspect negligence or improper assembly for this level of damage. That said, they were never a patch on the Stronglight Deltas. One of those would be classy and period appropriate. And last forever.

As mentioned, upper and lower cups should be fairly easy to tap out with a long (longer than head tube) drift. Since you’re replacing the entire headset, you don’t have to worry about damage to the old headset parts BUT I’d be careful to not damage the head tube! I might suggest spraying some sort of penetrant between the cups and head tube and let it work overnight. Ya, the crown race might be a bit more difficult but again, spray it down with some penetrating oil before trying to tap it off the steerer tube. RE: installing the new parts, you can make a press out of a long (again, longer than the head tube) bolt, large nut and a couple of thick washers. RE: the crown race, bore a hole in a piece of scrap wood slightly larger than the steerer tube. Slide the crown race as far down as possible then follow with the wood scrap. Gently tap the crown race down until fully seated. If all else fails, LBS should be able to “pull you out of the woods” .